Tag: A Third Foot

The weather reports in the lead up to this 10 Year celebration went from a possible fat dump of snow, to freezing frog, but the end result was perfect blues on the day. We were so lucky, because it was freezing from Monday to Wednesday but the weather went from 2′ to 10′ in two days.

Those thinking this is great news may not know that after a big freeze like that, the motorway over-hanging BaySixty6 skate park suddenly starts to sweat, meaning condensation fills the walls when a sudden change in the weather happens. The day before the jam, the park was soaked, so we all lucked out big time.

Before the event kicked off, I had the pleasure of dressing the park with banners and stickers as usual, and was stoked to have two kids ask if they could help. It was more of a surprise though when none other than Paul Weller asked if he could hang Ricta banners around the bowl. Crossfire would never have started if I had not have heard ‘Setting Sons’ by The Jam back in the early 80’s. This album has some seriously powerful lyrics. This happening was personally a lovely 10th Anniversary gift, so big ups to Mr Weller for making my day.

The un-sponsored jams commenced on the Grizzly Grip Tape ledges. Everything landed in this rapid fire 15 minute session came courtesy from our guest ams and pro’s warming up and so many tricks that were never actually made, so the vouchers were taken over to the small stair set.

Like lemmings, people dropped all sorts of goodness on us. This included Tomas Monkevičius‘ kickflip fs board slide on the rail that took Stand Up‘s dough. Nai Sukanant’s switch hardflip on the small stair set was a banger, Craig Loveless pulled out a nollie hardflip, but it was Gytis Bluivas‘ switch bigspin heelflip that rocked the joint. He was so close to taking a fs smith flip out on the ledge before this too, like, really close, but this was just the beginning for Gytis as you will find out further down this page. Alex Tibble closed the un-sponsored procedures with a quick-as-you like, straight-out-of-the box switch fs flip over the small gap. If you blinked, you would have missed it.

The park was a mess by 2pm. Boards were being sprayed everywhere. There’s so much more room in the new Bay park, but during an open jam style event, it’s quite hard to find that space needed when it’s busy. People tend to sit on obstacles and get in the way, making it difficult for people to land tricks. That aside, we had no major collisions other than two blokes locking horns in the bowl, and the usual scrap in the product toss, so considering the chaos, nobody was seen limping into an ambulance.

Six people skating the bowl at once = carnage. Ph: Richard West

Gytis Bluivas takes the DGK jam with style. Ph: Tom Halliday

The DGK Hubba Jam was instantly set upon by Thomas Harrison whose tail slides didn’t connect for him, but out of nowhere came Aaron Neville‘s impossible 5-0 before Alex DeCuhna laid down a stealth fs smith and kick-flipped out. Dan Wileman pushed a fs blunt, Sox ollied onto it and pushed a nose manual down it, Shaun Currie took a sweet noseslide 270-out before that Lithuanian ripper Gytis Bluivas returned with a crook only to nollie flipped out. He took the honours, and the dough. We hear that on this display, Gytis may end up with a sponsor. Let’s hope so, he fully deserves it.

Alex DeCunha delivers a mansize FS smith flip out. Ph: Tom Halliday

Sox had manny mania. Ph: Tom Halliday

It was Tom Steel who came up with the idea of wrapping board boxes for the HUFhigh ollie jam. The choice of Xmas wrapping paper and overall job would have received thumbs up from Blue Peter I reckon.

Mark Radden killed it all day for Death. Ph: Tom Halliday

With the driveway prepped, and the boxes continuously stacked, it came down to three potential candidates for the win. Chris Oliver sneaked one over the top ninja style and rode out on two wheels. Mark Radden pushed the boundaries and popped what we thought would be the winner until Thomas Harrison took out six boxes and closed the account. Absolutely epic stuff.

Thomas Harrison ollies The National Skateboard Co into their first win. Ph: Tom Halliday.

Balls of steel. Joe Habgood back-D’s the wall hole. Ph: Tom Halliday

If the wall jam at this year’s Halloween Massacre was anything to go by, we were about to see even more NBD’s destroy its steep transitions. This wall is no joke and way steeper than the previous build. It didn’t bother Joe Habgood though, whose first trick was to fakie rock the high section. I can confirm that he is the first to lay that down for sure. His backside disaster in the wall hole and fs nosepick raised beers across the park too. The unicorn juice was certainly flowing today.

Jed Cullen takes a pivot fakie. Ph: Tom Halliday

Ryan Price threw another fs nosepick into the mix, Sox pulled in off the coping to fakie and also left a one foot rock fakie behind. Again, another NBD went down. Jed Cullen took the honours though with a blunt fakie on the coping, and then on the high wall like Joe (just to rub it in!) and also took a pivot fakie home too. What a session.

The big rail sesh and stair set was quite a spectacle too. The rail was kept warm by John Howlett who made sure he feebled it and also left a backside smith for us to ponder on. Jess Young took a sick tailslide revert, Daryl Dominguez also saw his tail do the work right in front of Brum’s Luke Kindon, whose crook backside lipslide was deemed the winner.

John Howlett back smith’s the rail. Ph: Richard West

The stairs got a serious workout. Oldham’s LLoyd Mcleggon was catching his board with steez as he kickflipped and hardflipped the 5. Bloke went down though and was helped out at the final whistle with a tweaked knee and a groin whack. This year’s I.D star Awahd Mohammed looked like he was walking away with the pounds with a sick bs 360 ollie, but in the very last second Liverpool’s Charlie Birch laid down a fs bigspin that had everyone on their feet. The place erupted and he took the lot. Ridiculousness.

A Third Foot’s Dave Pegg ripped all day long with hardlflips and more. Ph: Tom Halliday

Lloyd McLeggon recovered from this with a groin strain. Ph: Rich West

Ledge fiends then filled the quad with tailslides, nosegrinds and more on the Grizzly Grip ledge sesh. So many people skated, yet so little was taken away clean. Honorary mentions include Alex DeCunha‘s front smith kick flip out (that we didn’t manage to get on film or tape), Caradog Emmanuel‘s fs tail slide flip out and Thomas Harrison’s second winning trick on the day for the National Skateboard Co, a tailslide 270 out which again, didn’t make it to film due to people being in the way. This was a frustrating session for coverage but what went down in the chaos was ace.

Daryl Dominguez takes a fs kickflip over his local hole. Ph: Tom Halliday

Double D then pushes the boat out with a fs heelflip. Job done. Ph: Richard West

Big tings were going down in the warm up for the Superdead Gap Jam. Clean ollies were beong thrown down as set ups for various other tricks, but with this gap being fucking huge, it eventually came down to three contenders. Vans rider Daryl Dominguez opened the proceedings with a kickflip which spurned on Lovenskate’s Ewen Bower to float an ollie over the beast and revert it right at the last millisecond. Whilst people were picking their jaws up from the floor from that, Death’s Mikey Patrick (who has returned from an injury) launched a few attempts to bs ollie fakie the channel, until he hit the sweet spot. A total meltdown was in place but this was just the beginning. Daryl then threw another kickflip across the beast and then started some heelflip assaults. Ewen upped the ante with a stalefish revert (yes, wtf!) and took the piss with a fully-cocked-leg benihana. Shut down. Every skater in that park went nuts and then started to chant Daryl’s name. You know he was going to have it, and then there it was. Bang! Electric session!

Benihana’s suck, but not when Ewen Bower floats them this high. Ph: Tom Halliday

Ewen’s stalefish revert over the beast gap was pure class. Ph: Richard West

How do you follow that mentalness? Only one way, and that’s to get stuck into a bowl sesh fueled by Ricta. It was a mess in there! 6 people at a time, full throttle. Sox had a bunch of tricks up his sleeve, Habgood was roaring through the place catching diving board gashes in his shins from the weak. He took a sick nosepick out of the bowl, so did Jed. Sick tricks. The hip jam was won by Greg Nowik, whose selection of fine xmas pickings warmed the cockles enough to hand him the dough. It was his fs shuv that really got tails tapping though. Carl Wilson’s hip work was sterling as ever, Ryan Price was bang up for it, Ewen Bower dropped some bangers. Too much, too many, too much again.

Jed Cullen takes his Blakey moustache to new levels in the bowl jam. Ph: Richard West

‘Chav’ Dan Hill was the only person able to actually grind more than 10 feet. He managed only two thirds of the double pocket he laid down at the Halloween Massacre to win the longest grind comp. The carnage was so rife in that bowl that tricks were hard to come by, knowing that someone is about to smash you in the back of the head as you land a trick.

Max Roton needs no colour for his fs boneless steez. Ph: Richard west

Chroliver‘s head high kickflips would have been trick of the day if he had landed one, instead, he got his arse out for the transfer jam and mooned the platform like a slut. I’m amazed that nobody’s head got stuck up his harris from the amount of people flying over the barrier. Witchcraft’s New Zealand bomber Morph was in every run laying it down in camouflage attire. He was also busting out 360’s out of there, until he took the tail of his 8.5 on landing. Terrorist moves. Charlie Birch then drew blood from his head in the melee. There was also a serious head clash in the bowl before Habgood rolled out of there with some moolah for his nosepick and transfer prowess. The bear’s insides maybe fucked, but he’s tough on the outside and will battle anyone.

Jono Coote slams down a handplant. Ph: Richard West

If you were not there on the platform to witness this and sat at home awaiting footage like a mong, then you will never understand what this frenzied session was like, ever. Thanks Ricta, you fucking rule. The skateboarding certainly didn’t let us down.

The after party saw Chroliver taking over the decks and a full house filled the Portobello Pop Up Cinema for the UK premiere screening of the banging new DGK video ‘Parental Advisory‘. A huge amount of work has been put into this production, the skating is ridiculous. Pure tech dream stuff. Go grab a copy of it this Xmas.

Huge thanks to Paul McDermott and everyone at BaySixty6 skate park, Ian Deacon at Ricta, Vicki and Alan at Shiner, Wes at Rocksolid, Maf and Ross at Out of Step, Tez and Harry at Superdead, Jane and Adam at I-Five, all at Slam City and at Stand Up Skate Shop.

We are proud to announce a jam celebrating a decade of Crossfire Xmas Jam events. This milestone will be heavily celebrated with one of the very best skate sessions you will ever attend on Saturday 15th December from 12-6pm at BaySixty6 skatepark in London. The address is 65-66 Acklam Road, London, W10 5YU. Map here.

Entry is £10 on the door and £7 in advance from Slam City Skates and Stand Up Skate Shop.

The 10th Anniversary Crossfire Xmas Jam 2012 is in association with Ricta Wheels, and sponsored by DGK, Superdead Skateboards, Grizzly Griptape, HUF, Sidewalk, Slam City Skates and Stand Up Skate Shop. All involved will have various best trick comps planned on the day in the street course. The Ricta Wheels bowl jam will kick off from 4pm, so expect absolute carnage throughout the day, with many NBD’s put down at the new park. £1000 cash prizes will be handed out on the day for guest pro’s and ams.

From midday, traditional unsponsored best trick jams will see £500 worth of shop vouchers from Slam City Skates and Stand Up Skate Shop up for grabs in the street course. Yep, it’s time to raise your game. We will also host two video premiere’s on the day via the big screen that will also be announced soon.

HUF BEST TRICK COMP: Highest ollie comp over the driveway.DGK BEST TRICK COMP: Best Hubba trickSUPERDEAD BEST TRICK COMP: Best gap trick across the entranceGRIZZLY GRIPTAPE BEST TRICK COMP: Best tricks on the quad ledge

Plan ahead and arrange your travel and accommodation. Look out for an announcement soon and cut and paste this flyer and post to share with others. It means so much to roll this jam out for you. Thanks for ten years of your fantastic support.

After Party information:

The Xmas Jam will be followed by a warehouse party and the UK premiere of the much the highly anticipated DGK video ‘Parental Advisory‘ in association with I-Five Distribution.

This event will take place in the Pop Up Cinema on the same road at BaySixty6 skate park (near Portobello Rd) followed by a warehouse party in the same location from 7pm-1am.

Interview by James Brewer – Portrait by Tim Borrow – Thanks to Tom Gillespie for Ryan’s full Gnargore section.

The Black Country’s most notorious crew; Gnargore released their latest scene video ‘Kickflip and Friends‘ this month, so to commemorate this massive moment in skateboarding history James Brewer sat down with A Third Foot flo-rida (boots with the fur?) Ryan Price who has been going hard in the proverbial paint for this latest visual offering.

Ryan’s a humble lad, always really grateful for any praise he gets, but once you get to know him he is a classic pisstaker and can spend a full day picking his target and trying to break them down. He hasn’t always been like this. When I first met him at a comp at Worcester’s Perdiswell skatepark, I saw a kid who was silent and about 5ft 4″ with massive, curly hair doing early grabs. Unlike most kids though he was set up with an 8″ Creature board and Indy’s which was a refreshing change from the Wet Willy/Grind King combo I had become so used to seeing. Watching him skate impressed me for a kid of his age, carving round the bowl. It was great to see. Since that day he hasn’t stopped impressing me, and in 2011 he was finally noticed by some of his peers and the flow started.

I called Ryan up a week before the Gnargore premiere while he was on a trip in Bristol and decided to bombard him with questions to see how he’d react (he’s not so good in these situations). So here it is the result of talking to a sometimes socially awkward, yet brilliantly talented Ryan Price.

Hey up Ryan, how’s life?

I’m good thanks. I’ve just been skating loads out and about in Bristol, skating some streets and a mini ramp.

So before we get too ahead of ourselves, give me the standard issue intro.

My name’s Ryan Price, I’m 18, I’m from Stourport in Worcestershire and I ride for A Third Foot.

For a kid from a relatively unknown town that is predominantly known locally for being a bit of a ‘fairground town’ how did you even start skateboarding?

Erm, I’m not sure. There was a mini ramp down the road from my house, so I had a go and stuck to it. I looked up to Luke Kindon who was a few years older than me in my town. These days we’re good mates and now we both ride for A Third Foot, it’s rad!

Stourport’s got a bit of a reputation as a pikey town, sometimes we like to wind you up and say we can see the pikey coming out in you. Have you ever had any trouble with the gypsies?

I never had much trouble as I grew up with them, scraps here and there though. Once I was outside the chippy, this gypsy grabbed me round the neck and I dropped my chips. So he felt bad, gave me a pound to get some more. I got some, then he wanted his money back! Haha! That’s about the worst of it though, it’s not so bad.

Every wall is there for the ride. Photo by Tim Borrow.

When you first started out you seemed to totally skip the ‘grom’ stage and just went straight at it will 8″+ boards and a need for speed instead of ledge dancing. What inspired you to be like that?

The first video I saw was the Creature video that was double disk; Born Dead and Black Metal that came with Sidewalk. So I always just skated ramp. Skating fast is something that never scares me, it’s easier to bail out at speed. Going slow is way scarier. When I skate street going fast is easier. Like when your going fast you can just fly out of it and not hurt yourself.

Not long after there was a Facebook petition for you to be ‘on Gnargore’?

Yeah I was real stoked on that. That was Joel who was on Gnargore set that up, and it was amazing. So after that I started going out filming with them and after that filmed a part for Wizard Council.

For those who don’t know (how dare you!) what is Gnargore?

It’s a bunch of mates who skate and make videos. I love it. It means a lot to me – skating with my best mates and having a laugh.

What’s your favourite memory of being a member of Gnargore.

Making Denning sour. Just ripping it into him. About how/when we get to a spot he sits in his car, turns his heaters on and smokes weed instead of skating. Haha! It’s just banter though, all a good laugh! Haha!

You had the opening section in the last Gnargore video ‘Wizard Council’ was that you first part?

Yeah that was my first part. It was fun. I didn’t really have an idea of how I wanted it to look, I just filmed anything and everything. Dan Jordan pretty much choreographed my section, down to the point I’ve even got clips with his leather jacket and bandana on!

Mind the Gap. Ph: Tim Borrow

How has filming been for the latest video Kickflip and Friends? From a slight insider view I think there has been a bit more pressure as everyone wanted to step up a gear.

It’s been similar to the last one. I’m more stoked on my footage for this part though. We just head out every Sunday and listen to Dan Jordan moan until we do something and even then he’ll say it’s shit. It’s fun!

Midway through filming you got on A Third Foot, how did that happen?

Erm, it was mainly from Luke Kindon, Tom Gillespie and Dan Jordan filming me and taking it in to show Ken. I used to go in and buy boards direct, then one day I went in to get one and Ken said they were gonna start flowing me boards. I was so stoked. I went skating straight after and then off to the pub to celebrate.

Ryan also loves picking his nose. Photo thanks to Matt Thomas.

I heard a story not so long ago about you punching a pigeon mid flight? Care to discuss that at all?

I went to the Churchdown comp and won £75, but Tom Carr had drove me and broke his foot so he couldn’t take me back. So I just went to Bristol and hung out with those guys and celebrated. The night was nuts. We ended up at some club, we were all drunk and rowdy, some bloke tried to start a fight with us all of us for no real reason, then we were heading back and decided to drop sand bags and rocks on an empty tramps tent from a bridge. When we got back into Andy’s flat, we were in the hallway and this pigeon was flying around. We were chasing it and as it flew towards me, I just punched the air and it happened to clock him out, stone cold on the floor. I was really sad. I didn’t wanna kill it. I like animals so it was pure coincidence.

So what’s next for Ryan Price? Is there anyone out there you want to thank?

I dunno, I’m just gonna keep skateboarding. Once the Gnargore part is out there’s talk of an A Third Foot video, so i’ll film a part for that. Big thanks to Gnargore, A Third Foot, Luke Kindon, Tom Carr, NOT DAN JORDAN, Ideal Skateshop, Parslow, Tribe Night Club, that’s it I think.

Gnargore’s brand new DVD ‘Kickflip and Friends‘ is out now and available to pick up for £5 from gnargore.bigcartel.com Watch Ryan’s full section from it here and pick one up.

Worcestershire local, Ryan Price has joined the A Third Foot flow team this week. Look out for more on this mag about this Black Sabbath listening ripper who loves bonelesses, wallrides, pivot fakies, hippy jumps, front rocks and more soon and look out for him on your travels to Hereford as it’s his fave park.

Bristol skater Andy Coleman is this week’s addition to the full team over at A Third Foot Skateboards who are busy rebuilding a brand new team for this summer including Luke Kindon who was announced last week.

Gnargore was started in 2002 by three skaters from the West Midlands. All three were doing as young skaters do and started a local crew. Yet somehow, in its eight years of existence, Gnargore has turned into something much more, and now appear as a representation of the West Midlands scene. Not just a group of skaters that make a video and flog them to ‘Timmy Turnstains’ down the local park, they have become a powerhouse for producing them, with their fifth in the last six years just being released! Not only that but working with local skate shops Ideal and Spine they have come together to organise great events over the years that has really benefited the scene. For all the jip Gnargore get, there’s no denying that there a good thing to have in a scene that finds itself struggling at times. So here’s a little insight to the warped mind of Gnargore ‘founder’ Tom Gillespie and life seen through the eyes of Gnargore.

So first up explain what is Gnargore?

Gnargore is a crew of nobodies that you shouldn’t really of heard of. And if you hadn’t, good. We’re just some mates with with camera, who can’t skateboard very well but don’t give a shit. But we have a lot of fun being shit.

The crews been productive for eight years now, what’s different now to when it first began?

Nothing! Other than producing videos that the shops actually want to stock. Sale or return, you know how we do. Spine actually sold out, so thanks to Chris for that!

In your eight years or skateboard domination, there’s been more internet controversy associated with Gnargore than there was with 2 girls 1 cup. How did that happen and how do you feel about it now?

I think I was a bit keen in trying to promote the first video and got on peoples nerves on the Sidewalk Forum. Now I know they’re all ‘cunts’ so I don’t care. Apart from Steve75. But especially Gawkrodger

Dan Jordan – Treeride

You’re well known for producing mini-edits regularly on the website. How easy is it making these, do feel any pressure from your audience, seeing as this is pretty much the only representation the West Midlands scene seems to get?

The mini-edits are pretty much the stuff that are too shit to be in a Gnargore video. The shittest of the shit. Like drunk dudes and parodies of other internet videos. Epicly Hater’d being a good example of this…

You’ve just released your fifth video in six years, which most will agree is more than impressive. Has this always been the plan, and how has it been filming them?

Five videos is more than enough for anyone. It’s just really a way of documenting a scene with me and my friends. We used to film it on a shit DV camera with a fisheye meant for an SLR camera gaffer taped on. Now I’ve got a proper camera so the production quality has gone up, but the skateboarding hasn’t, hahaha…

You premiered the video at The Mixing Bowl cinema at the Custard Factory in Birmingham. How did that go?

It went really well, better than I expected. The disc worked for a start which was great! I had a lot of trouble burning them all myself and trying to get them to work.. The menu screen kept crashing my computer, so in the end I sacked the lot of it off! I sold all the DVDs I’d made to people and shops and got rid of the twenty-five Wizard Council t-shirt’s too. Wig and I ended up on the radio talking about it!

Joel Taylor – Crook

And how was the response to the video?

Really good. Everyone liked it who saw it on the day! I’ve had people come up to me saying how hyped they were off it too. It was pretty rowdy in the cinema. Everyone had brought beers so there was lots of cheering and shouting!

A Third Foot, Fallen, Witchcraft, Krew and Supra all sponsored the event and we held a raffle to give away the prizes. They were all really generous with the product they sent through, so most people left with something! The ramp jam afterwards kicked off too! Everyone was going all out to win the A Third Foot board. Ryan ended up winning via a vote!

Something that stands out for myself is that the video came across a lot cleaner and with more of a direction than the other video’s you made. Is it true practice makes perfect or was it all an lucky accident?!

Before I edited Wizard Council I looked back on the other Gnargore videos and came to the conclusion there was no particular theme holding them together.

For Wizard Council I wanted to make sure all the parts fitted together coherently. That’s why there’s no titles or names in the video and the gaps between sections are really small. Also, there’s no bullshit in this video. No arty montages or shots. The only non-skate stuff really is some bro shots and some high 5’s as I wanted to keep the feel of how tight the Gnargore crew is.

With this DVD you’ve offered a free zine with artwork from people involved in the project. What pushed you to do this? It’s definately something I have never seen with a scene video before…

It just kind of happened! Me and the other lads have always talked of grand schemes and ideas when we’ve had a beer or two! But this time it really just kind of happened. Wig’s girlfriend Aimee works at the Birmingham University in the Print Department, so she has access to all the screen printing machines. Wig, Dan and some of the other Gnargore boys are talented artists and got together to do some drawings for a zine! It ended up being an 8-page booklet that when unfolded turns into an A3 poster. I was a bit worried the video was shit and wanted to give people value for their money, so the zine was a way of giving that to people! It was also really fun to get stuck in and print. A massive shout out to Aimee for all her help. Without her it wouldn’t have been possible.

Wig Smith – Indy Nosebone

You’ve got rather an eclectic group of skaters in the crew… How does the Gnargore program come to pick up new people? Is it a picky process or can anybody be in?

Nah, you’ve gotta be able to handle Dan Jordan and Tom Hinton torturing you. Hanging out and bro’ing down. It’s not a case of being good at skateboarding. It’s just about being a mate. Powerslides, going fast and a good bbq technique are a must to be on though. Double fisting beers is a requirement at all times as well. Early grabs needed, flips not necessary. Training provided. Apply within.

So who is Dan Jordan and where did the illustrious ‘Porno Denim’ nickname come from?

Dan is a human foghorn, and he is my friend. Porno Denim came from Ben Powell and Nicky Howells when they reviewed the last video for Sidewalk Mag. He’s a girl’s size 0 because he’s a vegan. He is the nicest prick you’d ever wish to meet.

You’re known for skating some rugged spots. Do you look for these on purpose to represent what your into?

There’s pretty much fuck all where we live since all the main meet up spots were shut down. This was right when most of us started skating. So we all pretty much started skating ‘non spots’ resulting in some people calling them ‘Gnargore’ spots. They would usually end up being a wallride or a curb to slappy. The dream being both at the same place. I guess it’s just a case of trying to make the most out of what you’ve got within your range on a Sunday afternoon.

So let’s give some of the Gnargorians their 15 minutes of fame. If I name them I’d like you to give a brief description of them…

Right: James Denning – Backside Flip

Tom Hinton – Tom emigrated to New Zealand with his family, but returned to the UK to go Uni. He’s done with his art degree in Worcester now, so I’m not sure exactly what he’s got planned for the future.. He’s a talented artist and had an exhibition at the Spine Gallery space recently. www.thomashinton.co.uk

Wig Smith – I’ve known Wig for years. He was in an older group of skaters from my hometown that I kind of looked up to when I first started. He’s the last one of that group still rollin’, and we’ve been skating together since back in the day. Wig’s got an enormous book and CD collection thanks to him working at HMV and getting hella discount!

Daniel Jordan – We’ve already touched on the porno denim persona about Dan. He’s also a talented artist, and is working hard on his graphic design work for bands, like logos and thirst and stuff. He won some award for the National Trust at Uni. Kid’s got skills!

Arran Burrows – Arran was the super annoying kid at school in my year, and he happened to be in my form! I’ve been skating with him the longest of everyone. I remember one day when he turned up for school in some Osiris D3s and we all freaked out that he had what we thought were the best skate shoes of all time on… how times change! A couple of years ago he put himself into a coma and nearly died after falling off his board onto his head whilst skitching on a car at the train station. I was really scared for a while that I would lose someone I’d been so close to for so long (no homo). Luckily he pulled through, and can move all his limbs and talk. For a while after he couldn’t! He’s super into his cars at the moment, and has a flash Mazda that he burns out and wheel spins at every opportunity!

James Jones – James is the man of mystery. He is super quiet until you get a few drinks downhim. He’s also got a million nicknames including Nudge, Nudgey, J-Rock, JJ, Jellington etc he used to roll with the Bromsgrove crew, but he moved to Halesowen with his family, and the bus route between the two towns sucks so he hopped crews and chills with us!

Ryan Price – Ryan a.k.a Clever is the raddest kid ever. When I first met him he was about 13 at Perdiswell bowl. he came up to me and was telling me all about his new setup. Most kids at 13 get Grind King trucks or some crap, but he had full-on 149 Indys and an 8.25 Creature pool shape board!

Below: Joel Taylor – Pop Shove

Harrison Thom – Harrison is another artistically talented member of the ‘Gore. He’s off to Uni in September to do Fashion. He’ll whip you up a dress no worries if you want! He’s Scottish so it’s easy to make fun of him. His boot doesn’t work on his car so you have to access the boards in the back via the back seat.

James Denning – AKA Creepy Den because he bought a young girl some crayons in an attempt to flex her! Den has the same camera as me and has been a real help filming double angles or filming stuff when I’m not around. He’s also working on a local scene video called “Shropside”, focusing on the skaters he knows from the Shropshire and Hereford areas.

Joel Taylor – Joel started wearing full on pajama bottoms out skating last year. I’m not really sure why! He want through a bit of a punk phase too. He’s off at University in Aberystwyth, and filmed his entire part about 6 months ago. He really went off on one in the last month before he left. That’s when he did his ender, which is pretty dreamtime.

Tom Carr – Race Carr is from up North and moved down to Worcester. He’s recently moved to Bristol. He’s one of the most stylish people I’ve ever seen on a skateboard. Even in videos!

And of course yourself – I’m Tom. I work at A Third Foot at the moment answering the phones, making the tea and fetching Ken’s lunch. Sometimes we work on some graphics too! It’s a dream come true to work for those guys. I’ve been buying their boards for years before I even knew where the factory was.

With there being a lot of skate companies starting off as ‘crews’ such as yourself do you ever find it tempting to branch this into something more than it is already and start it up as a board company?

I’ve always dreamed of starting a skateboard company and taking over the world, but I feel the market is over saturated at the moment. All these local/small skate companies that open up and do a short run and sell them out their cars at the skatepark are just depriving the more established companies and skate shops who support the scene of valuable board sales. I don’t have anything against people who stump up a grand to get a short run produced and flog ’em, after all everyone has to start somewhere, it’s just not for me.

How would you compare the West Midlands scene to other scene’s in the UK?

It’s hard to say about other scenes, because I don’t really “know” any other scene apart from my own. The West Mids scene is really friendly. I think it helps to not have any skate media industry around here.. There’s not really any sense of competition between different groups, or at least any I’ve experienced. Everyone gets on really well and helps each other at.

Obviously there’s been a lot of scene videos coming out across the UK in the last few years. What would say separates you from them?

I think the Gnargore videos have always been in their nature about raw quirky street skating. It’s pretty no nonsense too. I’m just gonna throw it out there. I can’t stand all this slow-mo, HD camera, dolly rig, city scape time lapse, soft music bullshit. It’s skateboarding, not a car advert! Give me a Thrasher video any day.

A few years back I remember you nearly got hustled by Stevie Williams over some footage you’d filmed of Lenny Rivas, do you care to go into that?

DGK and Reebok did a demo at Creation (Formerly Epic) Skatepark in Birmingham. I was there with my camera and filmed a couple things. When the session was over they wanted to go see some street spots, so we took them up in to town. We ended up at the Smiths rails. I filmed a couple tricks of Lenny on the rail. Stevie came up to me afterwards and offered to buy the footage off me when they got back to the States. I just said he could have the tape out my camera and so he offered to give me some boards in exchange for it. When we got back to their tour vans, the one with the boards and the rest of the team had already left the city. All they had in the van that was there was these massive RBK shoes! I didn’t want to be a dick to him and refuse the shoes so I just took ’em. Suffice to say I didn’t skate in them and just gave them away!

Harrison Thom – Crailslide

And when is the Gnargore/DGK collabo coming out?

Didn’t you see?! They’ve already “dropped” on Hypebeast last week!

Not only yourself but a couple of the members through the crew have organised events at local parks etc. What motivates you guys to do this?

I guess it’s because there’s no one else out there doing it for us. There aren’t really many tours/events that come through the West Mids for whatever reason, so we just put them on ourselves. I can’t really speak for other people, but I assume they do it for similar reasons. More people should put events on. It’s not hard. A couple of emails to the right people will blag you the prizes. Then you just need a Facebook Group and a thread on the forum and you’re sorted for promotion. D.I.Y!

Is there any inspirations that you think are used when making Gnargore videos?

At first I used to watch videos and study how the tricks were being filmed. Like how many steps down from the top the filmer was on a set of stairs for instance. Sometimes if there was a double angle you could see how the filmer with the fisheye moved to capture the trick. I’m not down for the whole over the top fisheye movement some people are doing! I really liked the way the new Blueprint video was put together. Enough non-skate bits so you got the vibe of the company, but overall it was raw street skating with a great soundtrack. In the past videos, I pretty much let the guys pick their own section music within reason. Arran was trying to convince me to let him have the Hulk Hogan intro music for a while but I couldn’t handle it! For this video I set out with an overall feel I wanted to get across. Grimey, gritty and raw. These values were reflected in the soundtrack too. Dan Jordan helped out a lot with this area.

So what’s in store for Gnargore now ‘Wizard Council’ is done and dusted?

I’m going to take a vacation from filming for a little bit I think and just take it easy. It’s really hard work editing the video and very stressful putting everything together. Maybe around the end of Summer I’ll have a word with the lads and see what they want to do. A few of the guys are off to Uni so it’d be a smaller and/or slightly different crew if there will be another Gnargore production..

And finally is there anybody you’d like to thank?!

Kris, Zippy and Bob at Ideal for giving all an awesome ramp to go to when it rains and for helping us out with the cinema space for the premiere; Fallen, Witchcraft and A Third Foot for sponsoring the premiere; Ken, Joel and Steve at ATF; Ben Powell for being kind enough to review our videos; The Sidewalk Forum geeks, all the locals, anyone who’s taken us to a spot or shown us around their hometown, Wetherspoons, Zac at Crossfire, and to you for reading this crap for so long!

Gnargore’s latest video ‘Wizard Council‘ is out now and available from Ideal Skateshop and from their website. For more inflammation check www.gnargore.co.uk and to have a further glimpse into the Gnargore world check out the video below. Metal.